UK Roundup - The Producers, Jerry Springer, Primo

The nominations for the 50th Evening Standard Awards have been announced and, as per usual, The National Theatre leads the way with 10 nods. With the awards having only three nominees in seven of its eight categories, contenders for Best New Play include two from the National – Broadway-bound The Pillowman and Alan Bennett's The History Boys – whilst their revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum competes against The Producers and Sweeney Todd for Best Musical. The Royal Court Theatre has three acting nominations – Pam Ferris, Douglas Hodge and StanleyTownsend - plus one for the National, Richard Griffiths. The awards are announced at the National on December 13th and will be broadcast commercially on the 15th.

The reviews for The Producers add up to an unprecedented rave, prompting £800,000 worth of tickets to be sold in a day. Four stars from The Guardian, claiming 'After years of quasi-operatic musicals that have turned poverty and oppression into a showbiz spectacle, we are at last allowed to laugh', four stars from the Daily Mail - despite a somewhat negative review – but the best quote comes from The Indepedent – 'Nathan Lane has to leave the production in early January. The producers of The Producers should plough some of their enormous profits into trying to clone him.'. Too right, and doesn't Mel Brooks know it. For those who can still get tickets, it is heavily sold throughout its booking period, his last scheduled performance is January 8th.

Primo, starring Sir Antony Sher, is to move theatres after its initial limited run at The National Theatre Cottesloe. With tickets for the run completely unobtainable – they were limited to two per customer in the first place – the one-man play, based on the life of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi, is to choose The Hampstead Theatre as its next point of call. It's an unusual choice of house to move to as the Hampstead usually stages new writing, but with the venue needing a hit on their hands, this could be a wise choice for the box office takings. Anna and the Tropics, the Pulitzer Prize winning drama, opens at the end of this month ahead of Primo in February.

There's been no word on legal proceedings down at Jerry Springer the Opera, but an out of court settlement has apparently been reached. Supposedly crippling the funds of Avalon, the producers, it was expected that the show would announce a closure. This doesn't seem to be the case, however. All around London right now are posters for Jerry Springer reading 'The West End's too expensive', advertising tickets for £10 sponsored by Sky TV. With a sponsor in tow the show may have a longer life than expected, as the barrier for putting people off going – expensive seats – has been broken. Hairspray is said to be hunting the venue for its West End premiere.

In other news, Becket, starring Scottish actor Dougray Scott, will close ahead of its initial booking period. At the Theatre Royal Haymarket it was hoped it would continue until February 05 but poor sales will force it to shut on December 11th.

 

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